The Battalion
Vol. 71 No. 114 Thursday, March 9, 1978 News Dept. 845-2611
8 Pages College Station, Texas Business Dept. 845-2611
Inside Thursday:
“Legal highs” crop up, p. 6.
No home for baseball team, p.8.
Marceau earns acclaim, p.3.
A figure of enchantment
World renowned pantomimist Marcel Marceau charmed a Texas Park.” Marceau was presented by the Opera and Performing Arts
A&M crowd last night in Rudder Auditorium. His vignettes in- Society. (See related story, page 3)
eluded “The Fisherman,” “The Mask Maker” and “The Amusement Battalion photo by j. Wagner Tynes
Back-to-work
order expected.
miners
United Press International
The next move in the nation’s longest
continuous coal strike — a back-to-work
court order — is up to the federal govern
ment and could come as early as today.
In a preliminary hearing Wednesday,
the board of inquiry investigating the
strike officially said what everyone already
knew — hope of a negotiated settlement is
virtually nil.
Miners braced for trouble and coal-
dependent industries and utilities pre
pared to wind down. Dwindling fuel
supplies pose further layoffs and power
shortages for the nation, already stagger
ing under the 94-day-old strike.
“Unless we get a good contract, the
lights may go out and it may get cold in
homes — then people will know what it’s
like in a coal mine,” said Pennsylvania
miner Jim Nuccetelli.
United Mine Workers leaders pressed
for federal seizure of the mines — the only
move they said, that would send their
160,000 striking members back to the site.
In West Virginia, Supreme Court Jus
tice Darrell McGraw called the try for an
injunction a mistake.
He said the miners won’t go back, be
cause they don’t want to stock up the coal
companies so they can withstand another
walkout.
The Bituminous Coal Operators Associ
ation said it will reopen the mines in
obedience to a back-to-work order. It
blamed the UMW for perpetuating the
walkout. The BCOA had its last contract
offer accepted by the leadership, but re
jected 2-1 by the union’s rank and file.
In Washington, the special board inves
tigating the strike as a necessary prelimi
nary to a court injunction under the Taft-
Hartley Act, said the union and the coal
operators are hopelessly deadlocked.
“It’s quite obvious that there are rather
deep divisons,” said board member John
N. Gentry. “It’s awful difficult to see any
settlement in a few days.”
BCOA President Joseph Brennan said
(?M C o nsolida teds rate greater than Houston's
Teen-age alcohol consumption rising
balk
coal operators have done all they can. “It
must be called to the attention of the
American people that the onus for bring
ing a resolution of the strike now must rest
upon the United Mine Workers of
America and its membership,” he said.
Throughout the coal-dependent Mid
west, a strike-scarred economy left
thousands out of work and thousands more
struggling under sharp power reductions.
Indiana and West Virginia took the
brunt of the growing coal shortage, with
three of Indiana’s six major utilities —
serving 3 million of the state’s 5 million
residents — under power reductions of 40
percent for schools, 25 percent for busi
nesses and 15 percent for homes.
The strike so far has reduced West
Virginia’s coal-dependent economy by
$1.4 billion. In Pennsylvania, the state
Bureau of Employment Security said as
many as 50,000 persons will be laid off if
coal is not moving by the end of the
month.
In North Carolina, where voluntary
conservation efforts have fallen below ex
pectations, mandatory controls are
threatened.
The auto industry, which maintains a
fragile network of plants across the strike-
ridden area, faced the most immediate
threat of layoffs. A Chrysler spokesman
predicted complete shutdown of the No. 3
automaker’s operation if Ohio is forced to
implement a planned 25 percent power
cutback on March 23.
“If they cut back 25 percent, it will put
us out of business . . . and put 150,000
workers on the street,” he said.
“Right now, our production schedules
are subject to daily re-evaluation,” said a
Ford Motor Co. spokesman. “We have no
plants down today or tommorrow, — but
Monday? I wouldn’t even hazard a guess.”
On the production lines, where United
Auto Workers support for the striking
miners has been measured by a $2 million
donation to their union, workers were un
ruffled by impending layoffs. They earn
company-paid unemployment benefits to
taling 95 percent of their pay, and for
them, a layoff is little more than a paid
vacation.
“We can use a couple weeks off,” said a
worker at Chrysler’s Hamtramck, Mich.,
assembly plant. “The important thing is
that the miners get what they want, and if
we get a couple of weeks off at 95 percent
pay, so what?“
ditor’s note: The students quoted in
article are Brazos County residents,
ir names have been changed to protect
!r identities.
By ELAINE MERRIFIELD
A high school girl keeps wine in a soft
nkcan in her locker at school and drinks
ween classes. Another high school girl
hrown out of a restaurant for being
nk. A 15-year-old girl says she has no
pble getting into local bars and discos
mdgetting served alcoholic beverages,
’hese things happen only in cities such
douston or Dallas, right? Wrong. They
took place in Bryan-College Station.
Hie use of alcohol by teen-agers is be-
ning an increasingly serious problem in
this area. Many students admit they drink
almost every weekend. This includes
freshmen as well as seniors.
In a 1976 survey of students in grades
seven through twelve, the frequency of
drug use, including alcohol, was reported
to be greater at A&M Consolidated than at
Houston schools. The survey was con
ducted by Dr. Kenneth Nyberg of the
Department of Sociology at Texas A&M
University.
Alcohol use at A&M Consolidated is
comparable to the national level of use for
high school students. On a nationwide
scale, 93 percent of all male and 87 per
cent of all female high school seniors re
ported having tried alcohol at least once.
At A&M Consolidated, 90 percent of the
males said they had tried beer, 79 percent
had tried wine and 72 percent had tried
liquor. Of the females at A&M Consoli
dated, 78 percent had tried beer, 78 per
cent had tried wine and 61 percent had
tried liquor.
Students under the legal drinking age
say they usually get their beer or liquor
from their friends who are 18 or older.
They say they do most of their drinking at
parties or while driving around town.
Ann, a high school freshman said guys
sometimes offer to buy her drinks.
“One time we were eating pizza and
these Aggies asked us if we wanted to
drink beer with them,” Ann said.
“Another time some guys found out it was
my friend’s birthday and they bought her a
beer. ”
The teen-agers said they drink because
it tastes good, because everyone else does
it, or just to see what it’s like.
Most of the students said they drink
only on the weekends, although some do
bring alcohol to school.
“They keep it in their car or truck and
get drunk at lunch,” said Sally, a student
at A&M Consolidated.
Teachers say they are not aware of any
alcohol use at school. Some students said
they felt the teachers were just ignoring
the problem. One student related an in
stance of a girl coming to school drunk and
disturbing class. The teacher asked her to
leave, but did not report her to the princi
pal.
“Teachers usually don’t send the kids to
the office, the student said. “They just
tell them to get out of class.”
One girl said she thought some teachers
“really don’t know what’s going on.” She
said she had seen some of her classmates
smoking marijuana and sniffing cocaine in
the back of a classroom, and the teacher
did not notice.
Despite what the students say, the two
area principals assert that alcohol abuse is
not a real problem at their schools.
“I am not aware of any (alcohol) prob
lems that occur during the school day,”
said Rodney LeBoeuf, who is in his first
year as principal at A&M Consolidated
High School.
LeBoeuf admitted that there probably
was a certain amount of weekend-drinking
going on among the students. However,
he said, there has been only one reported
case of a student caught drinking at school
this year.
The school policy for such offenses is a
three-day suspension. A conference is
held with the parents to decide if the stu
dent should be readmitted. The superin
tendent ultimately decides if the suspen
sion is to be longer than three days.
Don Wiggins, principal at Bryan High
School, also said there was very little al
cohol abuse at his school. He said there
were a few instances of students caught
drinking in the parking lot, but no in
stances of students caught drinking in the
school had been repoited.
The policy for alcohol offenders is simi
lar to that at A&M Consolidated. The of
fender is given a three-day suspension and
then is put on probation.
There has been no problem of alcohol
use on school-sponsored trips, Wiggins
said. Five years ago, some band members
were caught with alcohol during a band
trip. Now the only trips the band is al
lowed to make are to football games, band
contests and other one-day events. They
are not allowed to take any overnight trips.
Wiggins recognized the increasing fre
quency with which teen-agers are using
alcohol.
“It’s socially acceptable,” he said. “The
public won’t accept that it is a drug — a
legalized drug.”
Both Bryan and A&M Consolidated
high schools have sections in their health
classes dealing with drug and alcohol
abuse.
“We have a three-week unit on it,” said
Sue Kennedy, health teacher at A&M
Consolidated. “The kids respond very well
to it.”
The students at A&M Consolidated
think differently about the health classes,
however. “We never really get serious
about it,” said one student. “Nobody
thinks he could ever become an alcoholic.
(See related stories, p. 6)
Climatologist’s
rain forecasts
‘on the button
United Press International
BERKELEY, Calif. — They snickered
last May when Orman Granger predicted
California’s three-year drought would end
this season with a whopping rainfall.
Granger said rainfall for the season
would be 63 percent above normal.
Now, it seems Granger was right on the
button.
The drought is over, and while the rainy
season has a few storms to go, Granger’s
estimates for some measurement points
are almost exact.
All the other experts missed the mark
by wide margins.
The state hired Irving P. Krick, a pri
vate consultant who was Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower’s forecaster for the Normandy
invasion. He said the rainfall would be
only 70 to 75 percent of California’s normal
amount.
Another respected expert predicted
normal rain and a tree ring expert said the
drought would continue another year.
Granger, a University of California
climatologist, has developed a new
method for long-range forecasting which
he says gives him about a 95 percent
chance of being right. During the next
decade, he believes the method could be
developed to cover most of the earth’s land
surface.
Granger’s forecast for California in
1977-78 was not his first success. His
model produced similar results for the two
previous seasons, the only times the
model has been tried.
The idea came from another re
searcher’s discovery during the 1973 Sah
ara drought that there was a delayed rela
tionship between a desert area and the
North African coast.
Granger found the weather pattern of
the Mexican coast south of Mazatlan re
peats itself approximately seven years later
in California. A student gathered Mexican
weather data back to 1850 during a sum
mer vacation and the relationship was re
fined by running the data through a com
puter.
“We were working on this in 1975,
Granger said, “and at that time, nobody
would have funded that kind of stuff. The
only help we got was from the university
computer.”
Currently, the greater central valley has
154 percent. A San Diego measuring sta
tion which Granger thought would have
200 percent to date is within an error fac
tor of only 2 percent.
D cards required
Senate recommends new football ticket distribution policy
By ANDY WILLIAMS
Battalion Staff
The student senate recommended
Wednesday night that students be re-
ired to prove their classification by
)wing an ID card when picking up foot-
tickets .
he final decision rests with Wally
[off, assistant athletic director for busi
es affairs.
Tie recommendation, made in the form
[abill passed by a voice vote, is designed
cut down on the number of under-
iassmen using upperclassmen ticket
iupon books. Upperclassmen tra
ditionally have had better seats.
Senator Joe Beall said that the large
size of the senior class at football games
makes it apparent that there has been
cheating in the form of ticket swapping.
Previously, only a coupon book has
been required to get tickets.
If the recommendation is accepted an
upperclassman’s book may be paired with
an underclassman’s to allow getting tickets
earlier. For example, a senior who takes a
freshman to a game may combine the two
coupon books and draw on the first day of
ticket distribution.
The senate was scheduled to consider
several bills after the Battalion deadline,
including an allocation of student service
fee funds. A report will be included in to
morrow’s paper.
In other action, the senate:
— recommended that “consideration
section” for students at football games
be moved from the first five rows of the
upper deck on the east side of the stadium
to the northwest corner of the end zone
— recommended that no classes be
held on the two class days before the start
of finals
ibrary use survey under way
By PAIGE BEASLEY
Battalion Staff
Students complaining of library in-
equacies can express their opinions in a
rvey to be taken during the next three
N'eeks.
Ten thousand surveys will be distrib-
■ed to help library administrators to de-
Prmine students’ library needs. The sur-
■ty was designed by the graduate student
Puncil and the academic affairs commit-
pe of student government.
I “Basically, the survey was designed to
Ind out what students want from their
Ibrary, said Mike Gerst, vice president
‘the graduate student council and coor-
inator of the survey.
The major aim of the survey is to deter
mine the number of hours a student uses
be library, the number of days, and which
articular days, Gerst said.
The survey is also supposed to show
^hich hours between 8 a.m. and midnight
re most used, and which floors of the li
brary are most used. The latter result will
help administrators decide the number of
study areas to place on each floor.
Other areas of concern are:
— Remote Computing Center use
— Extension of morning hours to either
6 or 7 a.m.
— Hours used on weekend
— Library use by classification (fresh
men, sophomores, juniors, seniors or
graduates)
— Library use by academic colleges
— Library use by residential area
(Commons, north campus, corps, off cam
pus)
— Feasibility of a 24-hour service
Two thousand surveys will be distrib
uted through the Corps of Cadets, 4,000
by the Residence Hall Association, 1,000
by the student senate, and 1,000 by the
Off Campus Student Association and the
graduate student council. The surveys dis
tributed by the first two will be given to
on-campus students, while the latter three
will aim to reach off-campus students.
An additional 2,000 surveys will be
placed in the library. Emma Perry, head
of the circulation division, said these will
be put in the library because “we would
like some ideas from the people who are
actually using the library.” Surveys will
not be distributed in the library until after
spring break.
Perry encourages all student to com
plete the survey because the more sur
veys, the more valid the results. Gerst
added that it only takes about a minute to
complete the survey.
Because library administrators were
able to make suggestions and assist in de
signing the survey, the results will be
more meaningful to the library, Perry
said.
“If in fact the survey does reflect needs
for certain changes, we will take them
into consideration,” Perry said.
Gerst said he hopes to start compiling
results within the next four weeks.
— supported the Residence Hall As
sociation in its resolution to allow exten
sion of dormitory visitation hours from 10
a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thurs
day and 10 to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
— voted to change the method of as-
sessingdemerits for senators missing meet
ings
— approved seven polling places for
the spring elections in early April
— announced appointments to fill five
vacancies on university committees and
nine vacancies in the student senate.
The “consideration section” bill is de
signed to prevent students from being as
sured seats in a good section of Kyle Field
simply by requesting tickets for that area,
according to Joe Young, co-sponsor fo the
bill.
The consideration section was originally
designed to allow students with injuries,
small children, or others with valid rea
sons for not standing to be seated. Young
said the section has been abused by people
who simply wished not to have to stand
but have no reason.
Young said that physically handicapped
students will be permitted to sit in two
sections of the upper deck. The decision
will again be up to Groff.
Joe Beall, who presented the bill sup
porting extending dorm visitation hours,
said that individual dormitories will still be
allowed to vote on whether to have the
hours. The new hours are maximum
limits, he said.
The polling places approved for the
spring elections will be the Commons,
guard room of the Corps of Cadets,
Memorial Student Center, Sbisa dining
hall, Zachry Engineering Center, Reed
McDonald building bus stop, and Soil and
Crops Science building.